Peaceless
by Abridged
Summary: Twilight Sparkle. Black Flare Smith II. Chase. Run. Fight. Flee. Follow. Journeys Never End. Kill. Investigate. Destroy. Love With Her. Hide. Scream. Death. Life. It's hopelessly endless.
1. Chapter 1

**This story used to be named "Taken Back What Was Stolen", except that title doesn't really fit anymore.**

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**Part 1**

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**Chapter 1: Difference**

Waking up in a strange place can often leave you disorientated, confused, and scared. Not only that but it's cold and dark. Your first emotions could leave you huddled up in a ball crying and screaming, hoping against hope that it's just a dream, but you still fear you may never wake. Now imagine that in a young mare's head, who doesn't believe anything that her strong mind can't rationalize. Her first reactions were different than most.

Upon waking up Twilight noticed at once that this wasn't her bed because of two reasons: one being, because she was freezing and without any covers, second, because last time she checked her bed wasn't made out of rock. She looked around and realized that she was in a big dark room, with walls extending out beyond her boundaries of vision.

The lack of lighting didn't make a difference to her though because, Twilight being a unicorn conjured up a simple light spell. As the light blossomed from her horn she became aware that she was in a mess she didn't know how to describe. The room Twilight was in happened to be a perfect circle, and she woke up in the exact middle of it. Now of course, she didn't think that anypony could make a room into a perfect circle, that would be insane. But insane or not Twilight felt as if this was real, not that she was in some petty nightmare. Upon closer inspection Twilight notices that the walls are made of stone, roughly cut and bruised, like they have seen weary days. The floor was the same way. Twilight looked up, seeing nothing but inky blackness that seemed to go on for miles, but it was impossible to tell.

That's when her mind came crashing in on her. Only at that point had her mind allow the possibility that there was no escape. She fainted.

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When Twilight awoke she felt something in her stomach, stronger than ever before, more active and alive... hunger. This pain was consuming her thoughts, overtaking everything else. Knowing that if she did not find food in a couple days maximum she would perish. Never so long had she gone without eating, and she didn't even know how long it had been since her last meal, which worried her even more.

She thought harder of her horrible predicament. "Just think," she firmly told herself, "you aren't going to get anywhere from panicking."

She looked around again, seeing the prison-like qualities of the chamber. "Prison-like?" The thought occurred to her as if this was definitely the answer. The only thing working against this idea was the lack of entrance, telling her that there was clearly a form of magic. Her brief moment of thinking things might work out was shattered by the thought of what she had possibly done to have been sentenced to such a thing. She didn't know. She had no idea what ghastly crime she could possibly have committed to be condemned to a place without an exit point of any kind.  
Then Twilight was struck by another, even more troubling thought, she couldn't remember anything.

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**Hey guys, thanks for reading my story, I really appreciate it. Please, if you've got the time, leave a review, I'm always accepting great ideas to put my story. I don't care if you're male or female, your race, or your age - everyone has good ideas.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Memories**

Everything else was momentarily forgotten, replaced by Twilight focusing harder than ever before to recall the details her mind was having a hard time recovering. Her brain was buzzing with facts, all her known magic, her language, and science. Everything besides her friends, family, and other pony related matters had been completely erased from her mind.

She couldn't get around how this was possible, besides some purely wicked unicorn or alicorn involved with dark magic that even the Princess wouldn't know. "Princess?" Where had that come from? Frustrated and downright miserable she walked closer to the stone wall, hoping it would reveal the secrets that she herself could not figure out.

She examined the wall, closely inspecting it, searching for a hint. Upon finding nothing Twilight started clockwise down the wall, willing it to spill out the truth to her.

As she made it to the halfway point she heard a splashing sound and felt as her hoof got wet. Peering down she noticed a puddle of water where a stone was missing, filling up the hole. As she got closer to the puddle she made out her reflection; her lovely purple main was ragged and in need of immediate care, the bags under her eyes made her look years older than she was, and her pale purple skin was smeared in mud. She sniffed the water, and smelled that it was clean, so she started to drink.

She noticed right away that it was intentionally placed, because clean water doesn't leak from compressed stone walls. Whoever had sent her here didn't want her to die too quickly.

After closely examining the other half of her prison cell without any good results, she turned her attention to the ceiling, or lack of. The stones on the walls continued up in the same pattern-less way until she could no longer see them. Twilight used some of her remaining energy to cast a light source and shoot it as far up as she could.  
Her efforts were not futile, as the small ball of light revealed a platform about thirty feet above the south side of her cell.

For a normal unicorn, this would have been no help at all, and for a pegasus, they would not know it existed for the absence of light. Making Twilight pinpoint her target as an alicorn. For Twilight of course, all she must do was teleport.

Using her remaining strength, she teleported to the top of the platform, sapping her energy completely. It was all she could do to crawl her way down the tunnel towards the light source before blacking out.

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**It's Abridged again, posting all your guys' favorite story. I am happy to reveal that my very first day having it up I got a review. Thanks again everybody. Also if you've got the time, and want to read a peaceful story I suggest you visit TheBlindRat's profile. He's good.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Escape**

Twilight woke, hardly believing that she hadn't starved to death during her sleep. She glanced up at the light, realizing as she did so that it was clearly artificial; it's hue was slightly yellow pitched. Because of the glare in her eyes and blackness surrounding her, she could only see faint outlines of the objects in the room. One moved out of the room, heading eastward. Twilight only managed to see the end of a pair of wings and tail as they disappeared around a corner.

Twilight waited until the clopping sound of the pony's hooves had faded before cautiously sneaking into the unoccupied room. The furniture was pretty basic, a red wood table with three similar styled chairs. An empty bookshelf was against the wall to the side. Taking a quick look around the room her attention was caught by a lump on the ground across the room from the bookshelf. Walking over she picked it up gently, letting it unfold. It turned out to be a nicely woven pack, made by thick leather that seemed to be able to carry the heaviest of burdens. She threw it over her back and tightened the strap around her stomach, sending a nautious wave rippling through her, and reminding her of why she must hurry.

Tracing the steps of the other pony she slowly walked down the tight hall, trying to make as little sound as possible. At the end it came to an abrupt stop, leading sharply to the right. She followed it for about thirty seconds when she saw a blueish light and heard whispers, talking in angry tones. "How long has she been here?" asked one pony with a hoarse voice, sounding like a old mare with a throat infection. "Eighty-four hours in about fifteen minutes," answered the other pony, with a silky voice that sent chills down Twilight's spine. This voice matched the size of the pony she first saw.

Twilight peeked in, letting just her eyes and horn appear around the corner. At first she didn't understand what she saw, then she had to suppress a gasp as she saw the oldest pony she had ever seen, knowing that even without her memories this pony would have beaten them all. This old, skeletal pony had skin hanging in folds, which thankfully hid Twilight from her direct line of view as it draped over her eyes. Her skin was incredibly light gray, almost white, and every bone in her rib cage was clearly showing. Her muscles were tiny if any at all, and her wheelchair was probably the only thing letting her move at all. Her horn was glowing blue. To this pony's right, a huge, unimaginably buff stallion was standing almost in front of the door, facing the inside of the room, his skin was a tan brown colour, and his cutie mark showed a 200 pound dumbbell spreading across his large, powerful left thigh.

The pony with the spine chilling voice was out of view and it was her who spoke next, "She should be dead it two days at max."

The crippled pony then asked a question which spurred Twilight into action, "When was she last checked on?" By this point Twilight had already passed the door and was walking as quickly and quietly as possible. The sounds of hoofs against stone made her stop and look back. A pony's head had just appeared out of the doorway, however the light had shifted, covering almost everything in darkness. The pony's head was not visible long enough for any distinct details to stick to Twilight's mind.

Once the sounds of her hooves banging against stone had faded did Twilight dare move. She hurried down the hall, taking lefts and rights, going up stairs and retracing her steps at dead ends. Never finding a set of stairs leading downwards. Then she smelled it... nature. The trees and the dirt. Her fast paced walk turned into a full-out sprint as she took two more rights and found herself in front of a locked door. Shouts and screams let her know that she had been discovered missing, or that she had pursuers were already gaining on her.

She just realized at that moment, the smells of nature had given her energy, revitalized her. Her hunger was causing an intense burden, as if trying to throw her off task. She stepped back from the door, and focused her energy on her horn. She felt it heat up as her focus dwindled. She readied to blast the door off its hinges.

Firing her magic missile put Twilight back into her original state, exhausted. But no matter the case Twilight bolted out the door, only realizing then, that there was a terrible storm. This only held her there for nearly a second, as her pursuers were making a great deal of noise clambering up those tight hallways. She ran on, letting the rain soothe her aching muscles, letting nature sing it's lullaby.

She had gotten away, she knew. For anypony who was in their right mind wouldn't run out in a storm as strong as this one, unless they were running from ponies who wanted them dead. Even then it was incredibly dangerous. The wind pulled down trees, and swept Twilight off her feet on several occasions. The lightning struck and temporarily set things on fire, but they were soon smothered by rain. The thunder was deafening and the clouds made it so dark, it could have been the middle of the day and impossible to tell.

Lightning struck the ground beside Twilight, throwing her into the air. The wind pushed her the same way and she flew miles without touching the ground. Lucky for her, she was unconscious before impact.

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**Okay guys, I'm getting a lot of positive feedback, and I'm liking it. I feel my stories are getting better and I'm willing to edit what I've posted. I love you guys.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Freedom**

Twilight awoke, in a bed. "Was it all a dream?" she asked herself. Then she felt the pain.

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When Twilight awoke the second time, to stay awake, she wasn't expecting to see a pony sitting by her bed who wasn't a doctor. This pony had orange skin with pale blond hair sitting kind of cowboy style, and a cowboy hat on her hair. Her eyes were bright green, and when she noticed Twilight awake they got brighter.

"How ya' been Twilight?" she asked. Twilight stared at her blankly. "Twilight?" "Who... who are you?" Twilight asked. She looked like she'd been slapped. "It's me, Applejack," she answered. "I'm sorry, I don't know you," Twilight told her, feeling sorry for her from the astonished look on her face. She said, "one second," then she went left the room, probably to go inquire to a nurse.

Attempting to get up, Twilight propped herself up and flexed her muscles, finding that none of them hurt more than a slight ache, making her worry how long she'd been out. Sliding out of bed, and putting weight on her back legs, then shifting down on to all four legs, she left the room.

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Two hours later she found herself at the library in Ponyville with five other ponies: Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash. Rarity had white skin, and a very stylish, spiraling purple mane. Her eyes were dark blue and she was a unicorn. Her personality didn't go very far beyond herself which would probably explain her diamond gems for a cutie mark. Fluttershy had pale yellow skin, green blue eyes looked nice with her flowing pink hair. Her wings were folded up and her tail was twitching nervously. She had got to be the most shy pony Twilight has ever seen. Her cutie mark was butterflies which made Twilight suspect that she was good with small animals. Pinkie Pie had a ruffled up pink mane that went with her pink skin, her cutie mark was balloons that explained her jumpy personality perfectly. She was just a regular earth pony. Rainbow Dash, a light blue pegasus that resembled the colour of the sky. Her rainbow colored mane matched her cutie mark; a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt. She seemed to think that she was just too cool with her wings constantly showing off. Applejack's cutie mark was three bright red apples, and she was just a regular earth pony.

"So you guys are my friends," Twilight said unsurely. " Yep," said Pinkie, "We eat cupcakes and have parties and play games all the time!" "You don't remember us at all?" asked Rainbow, actually looking a bit concerned. "No, should I?" "Hmph," was all Rainbow's response. "Fine. Well I have got to go." Twilight said. Nopony got up to stop her as she left the library. "Some friends they are," Twilight thought.

About ten minutes of wandering later, daydreaming about this town, Applejack found her. "Where ya'll goin'?" she asked. Twilight simply shook her head. "Well I'm coming with you," she said walking alongside Twilight. " No, for all I know you could be one of them, one of their cronies," replied Twilight. "Who?" "The ponies who kidnapped me and stole my memories." "Well I'm coming with you, sugar cube. You may not remember me but you've only been gone for a week, and been out for another week. Since I'm your friend I've gotta be with you so you don't go get yourself hurt," she said with a stubbornness that sounded firm.

By that point Twilight couldn't contain her relief she had a friend! It all came bursting out of her at once, an onrush of thank yous and tears that was indecipherable to the most attentive ponies. Hugging Applejack with gratefulness and sobbing she got a hold of herself. "Some ponies, that walked by would occasionally say hi and I didn't know them so I didn't say hi back and they looked hurt," Twilight cried. "Shhhhh, shhh, it's all right Twilight, it's all right," Applejack soothed. "Okay," she swallowed, "I'm going now." " Oh no you're not! You haven't eaten, and you have no supplies. Honestly Twilight your brain wasn't switched with another one, right? Lets get more prepared and then we'll be on our way, sugar cube."

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Three hours later, Twilight could barely walk, having eaten so many apple products she couldn't even count. Her mood had gone up three times higher since the beginning of her known existence, and she was about walk out start searching when a rope wound itself tight around her torso and pulled her back inside. "Aw shucks, Twilight, would you stop trying to leave so often? Giddy' on up there to bed and we'll leave first thing in the morning," Applejack instructed. Grumbling, Twilight started up the stairs in Applejack's barn. "Hey Applejack?" "Yes?" "Do you have some parchment I could borrow? And maybe a quill?" "I've already called Spike over, he's coming with all the things that you normally take with you." "Spike?" "Oh, uh, yeah, you know, your baby dragon." "I gave birth to a dragon!?" 'No, no sugar cube, you hatched one." "Oh, right, yeah I guess it's impossible for a pony to give birth to a baby dragon anyway." "He acts like a maid at your house, but you treat him with more respect. Also I would act like you didn't forget him, I'm not sure how he'd take it, poor thing." She said staring off into the distance.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. "Twilight," Applejack called upstairs, "Spike is here." A few seconds later a purple dragon head with a big green scale on top popped around the corner, "TWILIGHT!" His voice sounded young and filled with joy, like he just saw his best friend for the first time in a long time. "Twilight?" his voice was laced with worry, "What's wrong Twilight?" "Nothing's wrong, Spike, I'm fine." He placed his things to the side of the room and hugged Twilight. She rested her head on his head, as a mother would do a child. Then he backed up and pulling out a long checklist spoke in a business type voice, "I brought three quills, eight bottles of ink, ten parchments of varying lengths and your favourite backpack filled with all your traveling supplies, which you forgot to bring the first time, and if Applejack hadn't told me that wherever you were going wasn't as important as she made it sound then I wouldn't have let you go." "Wouldn't you?" "Nope." "It's okay, Applejack's coming along with me this time." He turned to look at Applejack. "You take care of her, okay?" He told her, and even though he wasn't facing Twilight, she knew there were tears welling up in his eyes. "You don't let her out of your sight and make sure she comes back this time, okay?" "Okay Spike, for you," she responded. With that he hurried down the hall before they could see him cry. As Applejack turned around to see Twilight with tears in her eyes too. "I wish I remembered him," she said.

That night Applejack sent a letter to Princess Celestia, "Dear Princess Celestia, Twilight was found unconscious near the border of the Evergreen Forest after being missing for a week. She recovered in the Ponyville hospital for a week, and now she wants to head out looking for her captors. Her heads a bit funny and she can't remember anypony whatsoever, the doctors didn't mention anything about it. I'm worried about her and I'm sure the rest of them are too. I'm going with her tomorrow morning, and I'm going to try and delay for as long as I can. I need your advice on what to do. -Applejack" She headed back inside after Spike had blown fire on it and it flew off towards Canterlot.

A few minutes later Spike upchucked a letter, which he picked up and cleared his throat, "Dear Applejack, you say Twilight Sparkle has had a serious case of amnesia, and the doctors didn't identify it? That would probably mean that she has been cursed, and very skillfully. Delay her as long as you can, I shall come tomorrow at noon. Make sure she has a good night's sleep. Do not let her leave Ponyville! -Celestia," Spike read. "Okay Spike, it's about time you went home and got yourself to bed," Applejack said. "Yeah, good idea, but you watch her," he replied yawning.

Meanwhile, Twilight had been practicing, magic upstairs. She could conjure every spell she remembered that didn't involve burning down Applejack's barn. "Every spell accounted for," she told herself as she checked off her list. Her checklist was her first priority. Not knowing why, she thought it just felt right to make a checklist before doing something. Her new 'favourite' pack was filled with all sorts of useful things, including a nice, soft scarf, two books that she had read but had no memory of doing so, multiple packs of packaged, ready to eat food, and a small fold up tent. She repacked her bag and checked it off her list. Having finished her checklist Twilight went to bed. By the time Applejack came to check on her, she was long asleep.

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**How's it goin' guys? I'm happy to let you know that Chapter 5: The Search, will be out soon. I've been busy having a life instead of having no life on my computer. Only thing is I enjoy both the same. I will soon release my OC who will be based off me. Even though I haven't seen real fear, I'm going to try and give my OC traits that I think would resemble me. It's going to be a little romantic while he's around, so bear with me. As always I love you guys and hope you'll continue with Twilight to the end of this story.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just going to tell you guys, this chapter contains deaths that could scare or offend some people, this is my warning: THERE IS VERY CRUEL AND HORRIBLE DEATHS THAT SHOULD NEVER BE EXPERIENCED BY ANYONE. THIS STORY MAY EVEN BE ABLE TO BE RATED M. Just sayin'.**

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**Chapter 5: The Search**

Twilight woke to the sun in her eyes, streaming through the window. Her head felt great, and her muscles felt normal. She felt thoroughly awesome as she got up and stretched. She grabbed some thick parchment and started a journal. "Day 1: This is the day when I go to get revenge." She was interrupted by a gentle knock at the door.

"Twilight?" Applejack's voice traveled through the door, "Are you up?" "Yes," Twilight replied, "Come in." Applejack enter the room, letting the door close with a quiet bang. "Before we go, I've prepared breakfast. We are going to eat it. Then we're going to say good bye to our friends, the one's you can't remember," she said, "After that we can go." "First, I think it would be a bad idea to let the others know. Second, I don't want to delay any further than breakfast - they might get away," Twilight told her. "We'll see." was Applejack's response.

After breakfast noon was drawing close, and that's when Rainbow Dash showed up, "Where do you think you're going Twilight, and without me?" "Well, Applejack and I are heading out to unknown territory, possibly out of this country. There will be countless dangers and unspeakable terror." "Psshh, yeah right, nothing can scare Rainbow Dash," she said, with a bragging confidence. "Yeah, well what if you woke up in a dark pit, starving to death without any memories, no way out, and all you can do is stare at stone walls waiting for the hunger to overcome you and you'll die!" Twilight said, almost shouting the last word. Rainbow had an astonished look on her face, with her mouth hanging open, she was staring at an indistinct spot in space. "That's exactly what I thought," Twilight said.

Applejack found her in the room she slept in, "Are you okay, sugar cube?" "No, my life sucks, I can't remember anything. Do you know how annoying it is... to ... to," she was unable to continue. Applejack could only watch as sobs racked her body, the tears slowly making their way down her face. "No. No I don't Twilight...," was all Applejack could say.

Suddenly, the sound of trumpets rang through the air. "The Princess!" Applejack jumped up, and ran out of the room. "Princess," this thought echoed through Twilight's head, "Princess, Princess, Princess, PRINCESS!" She remembered having thoughts about a princess in her prison. The thought worried her, actually, it worried her a lot. All of a sudden Twilight felt like she didn't want to meet or even see the Princess. She felt an overwhelming fear towards her. She would leave. Now.

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"Twilight, there's somepony here to meet'cha!" Applejack called upstairs, "Twilight, you there, sugar cube?" Opening Twilight's door Applejack realized that Twilight was indeed not there. "Oh no," Princess Celestia gasped. Applejack saw a dark flash cross her face, but it was gone as fast as it had appeared. "Are ya'll alright, Princess?" Applejack inquired. "We need to find her," Princess Celestia instructed.

But Twilight was long gone. She headed into the "Everfree Forest", wandering deeper searching for a good hiding place where she could plan. She made sure that she left no path using a spell in one of her books called Advanced Magic. After using the spell all her hoof prints disappeared for as far as she could see.

After traveling for about ten minutes she spotted a small hidden cave which was unoccupied. It was fairly warm inside and a good hideout. She then re-planned how she would find her enemy without Applejack. She planned for two hours straight, then studied both her books until she knew them off by heart, which surprised her because she only read it once.

It was dark before she knew it, and she hadn't even realized that she was using magic light from her horn. It was dark enough to go out now, to explore Ponyville.

Once her left hoof hit the streets of Ponyville she knew what she was going to do couldn't be helped. Breaking into the convenience store was easy, her advanced magic book had magic in it that actually scared Twilight, as if the pony who made it was... an evil genius. Either way it couldn't be helped, she used a spell that let her walk through things. However it was very dangerous, if she was walking through something solid and the spell stopped, she would be cut in half. But it didn't matter, she was only going through one door.

The convenience store had everything she needed: packaged food, a map, extra money. She probably would have taken more had her pack not been pre-supplied.

She didn't encounter anypony as she left or as she walked back to the Everfree Forest. She knew that as she fell unconscious in the wind after her escape that she had just started over a forest. So she found her cave again and went to sleep.

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Upon waking Twilight knew she must leave. She headed farther into the forest, because her map said at the other side of the forest she would meet up with a road, then a mountain. As far as she knew she escaped on the mountain somewhere, but that didn't make sense because there was nature surrounding her at the entrance and she had sprinted through a valley as she fled. So either there was a valley somewhere atop this mountain or it was just a big hill.

In the forest she passed multiple swamps and cliffs. After a couple hours of walking she took a brake, ate a granola bar, and took in her surroundings for the first time. This forest was creepy, to state it bluntly. The trees were dark and almost dead looking, the grass seemed a darker green then it should be, there was a constant haze drifting in the air, and the leaves of the trees covered the sun and sky from view. It was a dark and scary place, but Twilight had seen the worst of those. To her this place was no different than a walk on a sunny day.

That is where I came in.

I was whistling, and walking through the Everfree Forest, not two things that really go together, but I heard the sound of ruffling leafs. I stopped whistling and asked, "Anypony there?" Of course I didn't get an answer. Why would somepony hide in the bushes to give away their position? I walked towards the noise which had stopped, and said, "I know you're in there." Really, I had no clue but ponies won't keep hiding if they think they've been found. All of a sudden a pony leapt at me, but stopped seeing my mane. "Who... what...?" This pony was confused and clearly scared. "Relax," I told her, "I won't hurt you, unless you attack." She stared at me blankly. "It's okay, I'm just an earth pony with no special talent." Then she did something unexpected. Her face went from blank to concentration, and her horn lit up bright pink. Out of it bursted a ball that encircled me and disappeared. I tried to back away but I hit an invisible barrier, blocking me off. "Talk," she said.

"About what?" I asked. "Don't joke around here," she said. "No, I will not talk to a pony who attacks others on the road, then puts a force field around them. I'm not from Hell, and I'm sure that you're not going to get any better an answer off me here then without the force field." I could see her focus was dwindling, more so because of the force field turning pink again than the sweat pouring down her face. The effort to keep it up was draining her. Then her horn stopped sparkling and I lifted a hoof and reached through where the barrier used to block me.

She was on the verge of falling faint, so I walked over slowly, to let her see I was peaceful, and stood next to her. She put her hoof on my shoulder, and for a minute or two we just stood there, me supporting her until she regained a little strength. Then she put her hoof down and stared at my mane. Her gaze wandered to my thigh, and her face lit up with surprise, "Where is your cutie mark?" "It's a very long, terrible story that I would only tell my closest friends," I told her, then muttered, "If I had any." She seemed to have caught that too, "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, really sounding apologetic. I could tell she really didn't think I was a bad pony. "What's your name?" she asked. "Flare." "Is that your full name?" "Black Flare Smith. Yours?" "Twilight Sparkle." "Okay Twilight, what are you doing walking around a forest like this, it's dangerous." "I could ask you the same question." I motioned to my mane, "I kinda scare all the baddies away." "How come your mane is even like that?" "It's part of the terrible story." "Okay, walk with me, Flare, then you can tell me."

We walked together talking about my life, as she said she didn't have one, but I was sure there was a deeper truth in it. I told her that I'm a blacksmith, hence the Black and Smith in my name. I told her that I live on a mountain in a valley, and she looked suspicious for a second. I didn't know the meaning to this so I gave her a questioning look. She seemed to be angry with herself for thinking something until she told me to continue. I told her that I grow my food, consisting of fruits and vegetables. I told her how after the tragedy I wandered there, and stayed, and how that had been my life until this point.  
"Well what are you doing here?" she asked, which was a fair question. "I have been following the signs," I told her. She dropped the topic, "Wanna rest?" "Okay."

We stopped in a spot where the sun shown down through the trees. While resting, she seemed to have an urge to ask a question, but felt afraid to do so. "What is it," I asked. "Your body... has... marks..., or scars...? On either side." Yes," I felt a little uncomfortable "It's part of the long terrible story." "I would like to hear it." "Are we best friends?" "Well you said you don't have any friends, and I don't have any friends, so I guess." "Okay, but we should continue if you want to get to where you're going."  
We packed up, and as we did so I told her it truly was a horrible story, that it could give her a nightmare, but she said she'd seen the worst. I didn't believe her.

"Hey, what's that," I asked, pointing up to a tree branch. She looked, "Could it be...?" The object lit up with magic as she summoned it towards us. It was a pack, sturdily made, with hard leather. "Okay, so I'm on the right track," she murmured, in a barely audible voice. "Huh, what?" "Nothing," she said. She looked confident, and had a grim smile on that worried me.

"Okay, you were about to tell me something," she implied, pretty much forcing me to tell her as if against my will. So I started my terrible story, "Okay, when I was born...," I began, already feeling choked up, "No, scratch that. Before I was born, my parents lived as blacksmiths. They made jewelry, utensils whatever ponies would buy. They made a great living. Then the day came, when I was to be born. I remember it perfectly. Some horrible ponies burned my father in his own fire, then my mother. As my mother was burning to death she gave birth to me. I nearly burned to death, had the attackers not pulled me out and threw me to the ground. I was born an alicorn, but my wings were burned to uselessness and my horn was also burned because of my mane. I was unconscious when I hit the ground, and that's when they removed what was left of my wings and horn. I never got to see them, only my mother as she burned."

I was trying and failing to not bawl my head off by this point, sitting on the ground shaking uncontrollably. I started weeping violently, struggling for breath. When I got ahold of myself Twilight had tears in her eyes and looked like she'd been crying, and ashamed of herself for thinking she had been through something equally bad or worse. I continued, "That's why I have barely visible scars, one because they've been there so long and two, because of my black coat. My mane has been in flames since as far as I could remember and I have so little unicorn magic that I don't bother to use it."

Twilight stared deep into my eyes, "Whatever I do, I promise that you will never see anything this horrible for as long as you live." "I wish I could believe that."

We walked in silence until twilight, though it was hard to tell the time. We found a nice dry spot to eat and sleep. I had never revealed that to any pony, and I was shivering even after we had laid down on her blanket. The blanket's softness helped calm me a little, but it wasn't until Twilight rolled over and touched her hoof against mine. The warmth of touching another pony on their own accord spread through my hoof and through my body. I felt for the very first time, that I could have a friend. I forced myself asleep soon after.

/) (\

When I woke up, Twilight had somehow manage to cook two sandwiches, without a fire (unless she used my head, of course). But no matter, they tasted awesome.  
Shortly after we started walking again I managed to bring up the topic of what she had been doing in the woods in the first place. She answered right away, so it was clear to me that she trusted me completely after my story. "I'm looking for the ponies that imprisoned me," she said, the unhappiness clear in her voice. I didn't understand, "What do you mean?" "My memory doesn't go very far back. My first actual solid memory was waking up inside a dark pit about a week and a half? Maybe two weeks? I'm not sure, but I managed to escape out into a dreadful storm that picked me up and carried me to the border of this forest and Ponyville." "Oh," I said, which sounded lame even to me. "Yeah," she said, then continued, "There were a bunch of ponies there who claimed to be my friend, but I didn't really know or trust anyone. One of them who I thought could actually be my friend called a pony higher up in royalty to come do something with me, and I got scared and fled. The only reason I probably let you live is because you didn't claim to be my friend, and then I trusted you further when you told me your story. I knew that it was one hundred percent truth."

I let this sink in, thinking that I actually might have a friend in this world. Not to mention somepony who thinks of me as a friend too.

We chatted to let time pass, because I told her that we would be there soon, and I was right. Merely two hours had passed since we had started walking again and we could already see the daylight of open area ahead. Then I felt like a normal pony when Twilight turned to me and asked, "Wanna race?" Before I could even accept the challenge she bolted ahead. Smiling to myself I hurried after her, "Wait up!" I caught up easily, took the packs off her shoulders and put them on myself, turned around and ran backwards in front of her making silly faces. She started giggling, then tripped over me when I tripped over a rock. She landed on top of me and we were both sprawled on the ground. She was still giggling as she got up, except her face was bright scarlet. We walked the rest of the way laughing together.

* * *

**Now audience, let's remember that I am a normal teenager who's thoughts don't normally stray as morbid as the ones I have presented in this text. If you're okay with reading about that, Congratulations, if not, well there shouldn't be much more of that. Anyway, I admire you guys as much as you guys seem to admire me. Love you guys.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Mountains**

I thought getting to the mountains would be easy, but apparently not. Twilight was afraid of everypony that passed, because she thought everypony was an enemy or something. I didn't want to offend my one and only friend, however it was getting kind of out of hand.

We had to follow the road up to the mountain, which is essentially the road that I always took. However, this was not the case. There were search parties scattered throughout Equestria, and Twilight thought they were looking for her. So she didn't want to be found. We were walking along the border of the forest on the opposite side of the road to the Everfree Forest.

I struck up a conversation to occupy her thoughts, "So Twilight, what are you going to do after you are done with your enemies?" "I don't know," she replied, "Probably stay with you until I figure everything out, if that's alright?" "Oh, it's fine. I could use some company." I really enjoyed having somepony to talk to, especially one that accepts my queer differences. She was really starting to rub off on me.

Suddenly, we heard a noise behind us, and we turned to see a group of mischievous looking ponies coming down the road after us. "Hello little ponies," one of them said in a creepy voice, " Where would the two little ponies be going?" I felt the heat - literally - rise up inside me, my mane an tail were heating up quickly. I felt bullied, or soon to be, and I was not about to let anything happen to the only pony I had ever felt close to in my life be killed or even touched by these maggots. I stepped in front of Twilight, who stepped back a little because of the flames, " Get lost," I growled, "Before I burn you!" I couldn't believe I would burn somepony after what happened to my parents, but if I was going to kill them it felt like that was the way I should do it. "Oh little fire pony's gonna step up for his girlfriend? How sweet!" his voiced was laced with false sympathy, and this angered me more. I looked back at Twilight just as she yelled, "LOOK OUT!" I was taken by surprise at the speed of which the pony attacked, and I suffered a small cut in the ribs. But my mane flared up and he was engulfed in flames. Thrashing on the ground and screaming, I knew I had to act. I reared up on my hind legs and brought them smashing down on the pony's skull. He stopped moving at once, the screaming was replaced by the gasps and shuffling of hooves as the other ponies started backing away. I looked up, panting heavily to see them turn and sprint away, running for their lives. I did not look back at the pony who was unconscious burning to death.

I ran into the small forest on the other side of the road, just a couple hundred meters in, where I wept about taking another living thing's life. It brought back the horrible memories like fresh new ones. I was crying and wishing that my life would just end when Twilight's touched my shoulder in a caring and loving way, "You saved me." At that point I knew I had something to live for, I would not stop until this pony was happy. If that took years, decades even, I would fight for her. I stood up and she wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her tightly, hoping against hope that this pony would not hate me, or dislike me in anyway for what I had just done. Even though she didn't seem to show it, I knew she may be hiding it somewhere deep down. "Twilight," I said, shaking with the determination to mean what I said, "You are going to get your revenge, and I'm going to help you. Whatever pony did those horrible things to you is going to pay." The left side of my neck felt a little wet, and I knew how much she appreciated what I said, and I meant it. But I already thought what she had said couldn't be helped. "Whatever I do, I promise that you will never see anything this horrible for as long as you live." That was what she said. Though I've been the happiest I've ever been in my life, having a friend, nothing anypony would do could stop me from what will happen to me. This made me more afraid of what would happen to Twilight if I stayed with her.

"So how do you control it?" Twilight asked, motioning to my mane. "I varies with my emotions, and hurts my enemies. Or that's what I think because it didn't hurt you and it hurt... the other guy." We were on our way down the road, to make it as easy as possible. We were already around the side of the mountain, so nopony would come looking around there.

Then Twilight asked me a question that knocked me off guard, "What are the signs?" "What?" "You said the signs led you to the Everfree Forest." "Oh, yeah, the signs," I was deep in thought, the signs were calling, "Take her to the cave!" they said. "UGGGHH!" I said, and fell to the ground. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked, concern written on her face. "The signs, the signs!" I yelled. Then I felt better, my vision came back and I noticed I was on the ground. I had a strong urge to go to the cave. Though I had no idea what cave to go to. Just that I needed to follow my instincts. "Flare!" Twilight cried. "What, what?" I asked. "What's wrong with you?" "What do you mean?" "You nearly gave me a heart attack! You can't just stop for a second, then fall! Tell me what happened!" "I... I don't know. I think something like that has happened before," I had one experience where I got off the ground without remembering what happened. I told her. "So you really don't know what happened?" I shook my head. "Okay, well... don't do it again."

We continued on. I couldn't help being thrilled about how much she cared. We walked and talked about random topics like our favorite food and stuff like that. This helped her think of what she actually liked, as she couldn't remember any of her past either. She was loving my company, and the feeling was mutual. Life was great, I was doing the three things that I was told made life good: Live Freely, Laugh Often, and Love Openly. My life was bordering perfect.

The sun was sinking beneath the horizon. We found a nice soft grassy spot to sit and watch it goes down together. It was beautiful. When I looked over at Twilight she was staring at me, and the lights from the horizon were shining on her face, making her look absolutely beautiful. The look of peace on her face was an image of perfection, every essence of me told me that I was feeling the happiest moment of my life, twice, no three times more happy than when we had become friends. I knew that as long as I would live, I would never experience a joy as strong as this one with another pony. She scooted over to me, until we were touching and hugged me. A pure hearted loving hug full of comfort. When she pulled back we watched the sun finish setting. It ended better than it began. The sky turned a bright red, which faded into a bluey purple. The colours blended perfectly, lighting the night sky up and the moon started rising.

I pulled the blanket out of our packs and laid it on the ground a little further off the road. Then we slept, side by side, letting my flames warm her even thought she was in front me. I lay thinking about her and how we could hide away in my mountain house, forever. Just the two of us. But things don't stay perfect forever.

/) (\

"We will come get her in two days if she isn't here by then, and if we do, you will not survive either. Although I trust my predictions, I know actions must be taken according to measure if I think they are necessary. Don't disappoint me, you've been a good servant," said a pony with a hoarse voice, sending chills down my spine. The mare continued, "If you run, you will be followed. If you hide, you will be found. If you strike back, we'll kill her, she isn't required to complete our plans, but she will help. You will bring her to the cave." "You can't make me!" I yelled mentally, hoping that my voice could be heard through the thick layer of blackness that covered my vision. "Oh, but I know how much you care for her. No, I cannot read your thoughts, however I have allies who are very good at lippering. I saw you kill that colt, very nice. I wish for you to live and I wish for you to bring both yourself and Twilight to me. This is no place to argue either. We can argue about this when we meet again. Now, BRING HER TO THE CAVE!" this mental yelling woke me from my nightmare. I sat up, with sweat pouring down my face like I had just run a marathon. The dream was fading quickly, and I could only hold on to three thoughts before they all vanished. Her allies were watching me wherever I went, my instructor knew no matter what I did, I would not let Twilight get hurt, and I only had two days.

I got up for good then, as the sun was rising anyway. I pulled some condiments out of the packs and cooked them fry pan style over my mane. Twilight woke shortly after they were done, probably smelling the scents of cooked bologna She saw the uneasy look on my face and gave me a questioning look. "The signs talked to me. It wasn't particularly friendly." I looked around after I finished my sandwich, searching for a pony who could be watching or eavesdropping. Finding nopony, I returned my look down to see Twilight watching me intently, "What are you looking for?" "The signs," I sighed. Twilight nodded, though she couldn't possibly know what I meant.

We packed up and continued walking. After about a half an hour of not seeing a stalker I asked if Twilight wanted talk about our personalities. She said yes, if I would tell her what was bothering me. I told her half of it, "I had a dream that I can't remember, but I did manage to remember that wherever I go, somepony is watching me and hearing what I'm talking about. No matter where I am they can hear me." Twilight looked around as I did. She turned up as unsuccessful as I was. We kept walking, and continued talking. This piece of advice didn't seem to bother her in the least. So I eventually had to ask why, "Twilight, how come it doesn't seem to bother you that we are being followed?" "Well I suppose that I would have been followed if you weren't here. Plus, I saw a pony on the mountain as we were about to get mugged who had binoculars and was watching us." "What! Why didn't you tell me?" "I didn't want to worry you." I opened my mouth, then closed it. Twilight was clever, she noticed things that I would never have. "How many other times did you see her?" I asked. "About twice, and always on the mountain." "You know that they now know they've been spotted." "Yeah, but I thought they were following me, not you." I didn't say anything to this, and she noticed how I was staring at the ground. "You're hiding something," she said. I could not get away with anything with this pony! "Yeah," I told her, "But it's not safe to talk here." She nodded, knowing full well that I would tell her later, on my own accord.

We finally made it to the mountain path at noon, and we started ascending It was hard work after the amount of walking we'd been through, but being a blacksmith I was in top shape. I could have jogged up this mountain, spiral down it again, and run back up. Twilight, however, was having great difficulty. "Let's stop, shall we?" I said. Lunch was a pile of snacks, as we were running low on food. "Just wait for tomorrow morning, we should be at my house eating vegetables and soups and everything you could want." She brightened up at that.

We walked for two more hours and twilight was drawing on us. "In a few miles," I said, "There will be a nice hot spring, where we can refresh ourselves." "Could we sleep there?" "Yep, it's a nice place all around."

Both Twilights were settling in, my friend (girlfriend maybe?), and the time of day. The hot spring went straight to your aching muscles and poured into them, relieving you of any pain there could be there. "Awwwwwwwwesome," was Twilight's response to the hot spring. I hadn't really thought of it but Twilight's muscles were probably aching badly form all the working out she'd been doing. "How's it feel?" I asked, which I knew was a stupid question but I wanted to hear her exact thoughts. "This. Is. Epic," was all she said. I didn't bother her with any question, I just let her relax and enjoy.

When Twilight started dozing off I decided to get her out of there before she fell in, "Come on Twilight, you gotta get out before you fall asleep." I for some reason that I think has to do with my mane, didn't get wet, kinda like stainless steel. The water just collects and slides off. "Plllll mmmmeeehh ooottt," mumbled Twilight. I was about to ask what crazy language she was talking in, until I realized that it sounded kind of like "pull me out". I did as I thought she asked, sliding her over the lip of the spring. "If you stay close to the spring you can feel the heat, or so I've been told," I said. She rolled a little farther from the spring, towards me. "Or you can lay next to me. I guess I'm as useful as a hot spring anyway." She giggled and put her hoof on my lips. I supposed this meant lay next to me and shut up. I did.

/) (\

In the morning I felt better, though I don't really sleep. When I do I kind of rest, like I'm forcing my body and brain to go to sleep. It normally works. When I got up I looked at Twilight, who would be uncomfortably close if we hadn't been so ... close? Anyway, she was sleeping peacefully with even, steady breaths. At that moment, I felt watched, like there was someone nearby, really near, watching me. I turned so quickly that my neck cracked, but I saw what I wanted to tail end of a pony disappearing around the mountain, which pretty much pointed the easiest way to the cave.

I put the pack on my shoulders, and gently picked Twilight up and put her on my back. Then I started walking the path that the other pony went down. It was bothering me how I hadn't had time to notice the colour of the tail, or even the style. In fact the more I thought about it the more I couldn't remember. It frustrated me. I was just passing the turn when Twilight stirred, "What... where are we?" "Shhh, Twilight, go back to sleep." "Mmmmkay..." Twilight dozed off again. I continued walking.

I started thinking about Twilight, which helped make the time go faster. She accepted me, and we were very close, considering that we had only just met, two, three days ago? Wait, the signs told me I only had two days, so I had the rest of today and until morning tomorrow to get Twilight there. I sighed. "What's wrong?" Twilight asked. "Aaahhhh!" I sucked in a deep breath, "You scared me." "Clearly, what's wrong though?" "The signs." "Did you have another dream?" "No." "Come on, tell me what I want to hear." "Okay, we're going where you want to go." "How do you know where I want to go?" "The signs told me. They are expecting you. The signs have been telling me what to do for a long time. I have no idea how, or why, but they do. They started when I slept off the road two days before we met." She didn't say anything. I looked back to see tears on her face, slowly crawling down. I kept walking anyway. "They told me they were going to kill you," I said my voice started to shake and crack, "They told me that if I didn't bring you to them, they were going to kill you." I stopped. Twilight slipped off my back and sat on the ground, but her face had changed, it looked less sad, and a little more content, but still incredibly sad. I just stood there on the road. Waiting to see what she would do. Then, of course, she surprised me. Instead of her walking away with her head held low she walked right up to me and hugged me. I stood, shocked, and after a few moments I slowly put my arms around her. "You cared so much for me that you would bring me to the ponies who I wanted to see, who wanted to see me, and the ponies who would kill me if you didn't? I don't know if that is a good thing or not, but I feel like you have done me a favor So I am filled with gratitude again." "I... I, don't... what?" "Okay, we are still friends, I do not hate you, in fact I like you more than before. Okay? Let's go." She said it slowly, and I started to walk forward. Yet my mind was still processing it as we walked for at least half a mile.

"Okay, you've had that silly grin on for the longest time I've ever seen anypony hold a face. Or for as long as I would think," she frowned as she remembered that, but then smiled again as she looked at me, "Are you still trying to understand what I said? How about this." She tackled me to the ground, which snapped me out of my stupor. "What, where!" She laughed, hard. She laughed so hard that she rolled right off me and landed on the ground with a soft thud. Seeing her laugh made me laugh too, and I was sprawled on the ground with her before I knew what was going on.

Five minutes later we were chuckling as we started down the path again. We walked for about an hour before we realized that our stomachs were growling louder than our hooves on the gravel. We stopped to eat.

"You are almost there," the signs told me, making me double over on the ground, "When you reach a break in the road turn left, it is a direct path from there. Tell her that we are not going to kill her, only because we have realized her magical abilities were far greater than we could have imagined. We will also need you, because you are strong. You will not realize the intentions of our plans until we reveal them to you completely, in person. We hope you arrive quickly." I returned to life, where Twilight was peering over me. "The signs?" she asked once my eyes were straight. I nodded, and passed on the news. "I don't trust them," she said, then sighed. We packed up and returned to walking.

It was dark when we arrived, without any difficulties since lunch. The path lead straight to a dead end, so we looked around. After a little poking around we figured out that the mountain in front of us could be the only entrance. I walked towards it, lighting my surroundings with my mane. I walked up to the wall inspected it for a second, then pushed against it. Almost at once it gave in, falling forwards with me on top. "I found it." Twilight giggled. I looked at her and she nodded. I walked inside with her right behind me.

* * *

**This story is going to be incredibly long, probably going from 25-50 chapters. I am releasing another story about Flare's dad soon, it's not really important to me, but it's going to be super violent and rated mature for blood and detailed gore. Not recommended for children, just teens who could use a story about a war. It's not a big deal.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	7. Chapter 7

**It gets a little gushy at the end, but every story needs the least bit of romance.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Diplomats**

We were greeted at once. We walked a couple meters down a tight hall, and just as we were about to turn the corner an enormous, super-powerful looking stallion steps out. His tan brown skin looked almost orange by the light of my fire. He didn't say anything, he just beckoned us forward. I looked at Twilight, who was looking at me, as if I should make the decision I figured this colt didn't mean any harm, as he had walked down the hall without looking back or waiting. He would only mean harm if he had to.  
I followed, as did Twilight, close behind me, and I mean close. Don't ask why I'm thinking about her in the middle of a possible deathtrap, it's beyond me. We caught up to the colt, but he didn't seem to notice, or care.

The walls were made of stone slabs, seemingly thrown on top of each other at random. We continued walking until their was a light up ahead, glowing blueish and competing with my orange glow. We finally reached the room. It was just like the rest of the cave except in a small circular opening. There were two ponies in there, one looked like it was on the verge of death, a white coat with bones sticking out all over, and an alicorn. The alicorn was a dull orange, almost peach colour. Her hair and tail were a little yellower, but the same dull, almost ugly colour. Her face looked grim, as in if something didn't go right soon, she might do something she didn't want to. Her cutie mark was strange, a question mark. Like a piece of word art it sat on her thigh. The old pony's cutie mark was almost the same, a question mark, looking like a bubble letter except colorless.

It was the old pony that spoke first, the same voice as the signs, "Welcome, be at ease. I know you have no reason to trust us but I ask for your time, hear us out. In the end we will decide if it's safe enough to give you back your memories." I looked at Twilight, who was in shock. "Not only you, Twilight, but you too Flare. We have not stolen yours but we will help you remember." After a few seconds of nothing being said, I spoke, "Talk."

"Princess Celestia," she said, "Do you know her?"

"Yes, of course, she's the princess." I replied.

"Twilight, do you know her?" the pony asked.

"Tell us your name," Twilight instructed.

"I am Matilda," she said, then nodded towards the alicorn, "That is Nora," and nodding towards the beefy colt she said, "and Gambit. He doesn't speak, but he listens attentively."

"All I know about the princess is that she cannot see me or know where I am," Twilight told her.

"Oh yes, we did that to you, because it might have brought back your memories." she said, as if it didn't matter. Which irritated Twilight, who could barely contain herself. "It's time I told you the whole story, both of you."

"It started when you were young, Flare. We were great friends with your parents, and we were late coming over when we heard she mother was giving birth. Because we were late, we were not there to save you or your family. We arrived just as Celestia and her allies were leaving. They burned your father in his own forge, and your mother was burning as we pulled you out. Once we got her out, Nora was trying out all her healing spells on you, trying to stop the flames from burning you. Your mother screamed to see you, and we let her before she died. We figure it was because you were born on fire that her flames wouldn't go out, and she perished. You went unconscious and we tried for ten minutes to put the flames out on your mane, before we figured that they were there for good. Your cutie mark, which was there at birth had burned, along with your wings and horn. We raised you for five years and left you at your mother's house after wiping your memory. We watched you as you grew, and you knew what to do. You grew your garden and forged many things. The only things we do not know are where you put the things you forged, and why Celestia burned your parents." I took this in easily, as if my mind knew it already. Twilight looked at me, as if looking for my conformation that it was true, I nodded. Matilda continued, "And Twilight, we took you because you were getting too close to the princess. I reckon it would have been, from three months to a year and she would have you working for her." Twilight looked angry, and like she wanted to believe it, but couldn't make herself. "Can I have my memory back now?" Twilight asked, "Please?" "Okay, I feel I have gotten my message through, and I feel you believe it. There is no knowing what you could do, so we will have to tie you up. Now don't be alarmed! You might attack us if you remember, or you might not do anything. We do not know, and we have more story to tell you when you get your memory back, to help you see our side."

Twilight looked nervous as we made our way through the structure We stopped in a room that had a chair, and buckles at the wrists and ankles. Twilight looked at me for reassurance, and I nodded. I felt at ease since they told me the truth. She walked over and sat down. A peach light erupted from Nora's horn as she grunted trying to make the buckles close. Finally they did, and Nora collapsed. I rushed to her, and helped her stand. "Thank you," she said quietly. I felt Twilight's eyes on me even though I wan't facing her. I kept my head down, so as not to make eye contact, until she looked away. Matilda rolled right up to Twilight in her wheelchair and asked her to lean down. Twilight leaned her head forward, so her horn could make contact with Matilda's. Matilda touched Twilight's horn and it glowed blue. They stayed like that for approximately three minutes. The tension built up in my chest as I waited and watched.

Finally Matilda rolled back, and Twilight's eyes closed and she stopped breathing. I was about to yell but I was shoved to the ground by Gambit, pinning me down, and my mouth was magically closed. I struggled almost picking Gambit up with all of my strength, but I couldn't manage. I was shushed by Nora who then said it was going to be okay, that I had to be quiet or Twilight might not wake. Then there was a gasp and Twilight screamed. Gambit jumped, and I was able to lift him off me and shove him to the side. Standing upright my mane flared up, heating up as I crossed the room towards Twilight. She was looking around, scared and angry. "Princess! Princess Celestia, help me!" Then she saw me and cried, "Flare help me up, they are going to kill us!" I shushed her. She looked at me, and calmed a little, "What's going on, Flare?" "It's okay," I told her, "It's okay." I started sobbing. I was so relived she was okay that I couldn't contain it. I sat on the floor, thinking about my emotions and trying to sort them out. As far as I knew the buckles must have released Twilight because she was hugging me, and I felt useless. I couldn't protect myself, let alone another pony. I stopped sobbing, and stood up. Matilda was a meter away, just sitting there. "Let us go," I told them. "We were never stopping you," she said. I held Twilight's hand as we started for the door. "Gambit, lead the way out. We will be coming down to your house tomorrow, Flare. Don't let Twilight leave you. For all our safety, especially hers."

Gambit lead the way to the entrance of the cave, and I lead Twilight to my house. We went upstairs and I showed her to my guest room. She went to the bathroom, and when she came out I was in my room. She came looking for me, and insisted that we slept together, as she didn't trust herself. I was to tired to argue, even if I did care. I lay in bed, Twilight on the other side. I told myself that no matter what I did I would not fall asleep tonight.

After about three hours of laying in bed, Twilight got up. I heard her walk across the room, then a quiet sound of metal clanging and she walked back over. I knew I kept one of my better made swords lying on a chair over their. I had no idea what she could possibly want with it. She walked right in front of me, my eyes were squinting, so little that she couldn't possibly have known I was watching her. She started sobbing and she sat down hard, letting the sword fall on the floor. I slid out of bed and approached her slowly, "Twilight, why did you grab my sword and why are you crying?" "I... I... didn't want to..., I felt that I had to... . I'm supposed to kill you!" "Why?" I said slowly. "My memories make me think that you're somehow bad..., that the Princess wants me to kill you." She started wailing, and I still felt sympathy for her. I knew that I had done basically the same thing, when I was under the influence of the signs. I hugged her, and shortly after she stopped crying. "You'll be okay, just wait until tomorrow, things will be clearer then." We went back to bed, after I put my sword back in it's original position.

/) (\

I got up early because I hadn't slept at all through the night, and it hadn't even been hard. I didn't feel the need to sleep throughout the night. Not to mention I felt rested after I got up. I quietly slipped out bed so Twilight didn't wake, and crept out of the room. I went downstairs to make breakfast. Twilight came down about an hour after me, "What time is it?" "It's about 8:00," I told her. I pulled up a chair for her and she sat at the counter. "Hungry?" I asked. "You'd better believe it," she responded. She ate like she was trying to be polite, but gobbling it down all the same. I had started eating mine when she belched loudly. Her hoof went straight to her mouth, and she stared at me as if hoping I might not have heard. I laughed, and said, "Well aren't you full of surprises!" She laughed, and we had a peaceful breakfast. Doing the dishes was fun. Twilight would talk the whole time, and I would listen and stare at her gratefully. We were like a little philly and colt, playing with the dishes, laughing and having a good time.

Soon after, if not too soon, Matilda and friends came down the trail. I grabbed Twilight's hoof as we waited on the front porch. "Nice house you got here," Matilda said as Gambit pushed her, "Okay, I'm sure you have questions, Twilight, ask away!"

"Why was I trapped in a pit? Why did you take my memory? What's wrong with the Princess?" Twilight demanded, losing patience as she asked.

"The Princess burned Flare's parents, for one." Matilda said, staring at me. My face was devoid of emotion. "We took your memory because you trusted the Princess too much and you were getting too powerful. The Princess is powerful enough and with you on her side we'd be devastated. You were trapped in the pit because we thought the memory wipe damaged your brain, and you were going to die without any thoughts. Really we thought that you thought that you were already dead, so we left you there to really die, for real." My brain was having a hard time processing this.

"We had always thought the Princess was evil, but it wasn't until she burned her greatest warrior in cold blood that we realized how power driven she was." Twilight didn't look ready to understand the full picture of this either so I focused back on the story. "We thought you two would join us after you realized what we were fighting for."

Then Nora spoke up, "If you would join, we might be able to get your wings and horn back, Flare, but it will be Twilight who will save you in the end." I grew confused as that sentence didn't really make sense. They might be able to get my wings and horn back and Twilight will save me?

Then Nora's eyes were replaced by complete blackness, and I couldn't stare away. She spoke in a spine chilling voice, different from her normal voice:

Two ponies will be able to cross the land,  
With powers unknown to all.  
They will fight towards the one,  
And find out who will fall.

Soon after that some worries arise,  
And the two are called on again.  
They will travel victoriously,  
Unto the enemy's den.

Nora's eyes changed back to their normal, peachy color, as she staggered on her feet. Gambit caught her, and stood next to her, acting as a support. I was staring with my mouth wide open, every word plastered into my head. It was clear that Nora had just prophecized the future, but I didn't understand how. "There, there, Nora, you'll be okay. Just sit down and let it pass." This had clearly happened before because Matilda acted as if it didn't matter much. Twilight spoke up before I could, "Was that a prophecy? Is it going to be true?" Matilda shushed her quickly, "Inside, let's get inside and talk about it."

I rolled Matilda inside and she started talking immediately, "Nora has the ability to see the future," she said, her eyes glittering, "She can see what will happen, and if has always played out true, as far as we could see. She was born with these abilities and she can't control them, so she doesn't talk that much either, because she's scared they might control her. We cannot let anyone hear about this, because Princess Celestia will take her and use her, of this we are certain."

The conversation was over, that was clear. Nora and Gambit entered. "Nice place," Nora said. "Thank you," I said, accepting the compliment.

Then Matilda spoke up, saying something that stunned me, "I'll give you a week to get ready. After that there is no reason to delay the inevitable."

"What?" Twilight asked.

"Nora has prophecized that there would be two ponies with incredible powers. It is clear to me through these old pony eyes that you two are clearly the most powerful ponies of this generation. Twilight, your mind patched itself up on it's own while neither Nora or I could have helped. If you haven't noticed I've never seen anypony teleport. I've studied your past personally, through your memories, which were clearer than my own. You banished an Ursa Minor. You destroyed Discord. You saved Princess Luna. Need I name more? Flare, your father was the world's greatest, undefeated warrior. He destroyed armies by himself. He also was the leader of the Elite Assault Team. Not to mention you're an alicorn for Celestia's sake! If you believe there is a stronger duo in the world then you are poorly mistaken. I've never seen a pony who has as much potential as either of you for my 157 year lifespan. You two will go to stop Celestia!" Matilda shouted.

As absolutely insane as that sounded, I agreed. I didn't know why. The I thought about it. This Princess Celestia had killed my father. i probably would have been angrier, but I didn't know my father at all, so I couldn't force myself to be any angrier than I already was. Twilight looked like she would go wherever I went and that she didn't really have anything against Celestia yet. She seemed like she wanted to figure things out too, like show that these ponies were telling the complete truth.

"Shall we get your wings and horn back?" Matilda asked. I nodded. "Nora, help Twilight get his horn back." Nora then conjured a piece of parchment, that had words on it, but I didn't have enough time to read it. After Twilight looked at it for a while, she nodded, and focused her attention on her horn and on me. Nora was doing the same, and both of there horns lit up with power. I felt tingling in my sides, but I was afraid to look down. Then after about a minute of tingling, I felt two objects rip from my insides, and I crashed to the ground. The pain was unbearable, so unbearable that I couldn't even scream. I felt my insides shutting down, so I knew I was going unconscious, and the pain would soon leave. I was right.

/) (\

Eight hours of rough sleep later, I woke, feeling very parched. I sat up feeling a weight on me that was holding me down, and my sides were itchy. I reached over to scratch my sides and felt something unnatural there. It was feathery and smooth, slick and delicate. Then a thought took over my mind as I looked and so the phenomenon "MY WINGS!" I hollered. Twilight came rushing up, to share the joy. I was prancing around in a circle. "STOP!" Twilight cried. I stopped instantly at alert. "Those wings need time to heal, as they are as weak as a newborn's," Twilight told me, "They will need at least a week." I started jumping around again, and thought to myself, "A week? I can handle a week." "I've prepared food if your hungry," Twilight told me. "Yes please," I responded. I hadn't said that word in a long time, having no one to say it to. Twilight took me downstairs into my kitchen, telling me that I needed to keep my wings down the whole week, that I couldn't even flex them. I was okay with that.  
In the kitchen I asked, "Do you have the whole place figured out?" "Pretty much. Except I noticed you have hot water and electricity, neither of those thing I can see where you get." "I have pipes that I built running underground, taking the volcanic water, which is clean, all my cold water is just refrigerated and my electricity comes from the solar panels that I also built. I'm kinda an electrical engineer as well." "You can also cook." "Yeah, I can do that too." She handed me a sandwich and a glass of water. Then she sat on the couch with hers and beckoned me over. I didn't hesitate for a second.

The week flew by. Twilight and I had become the best of friends, if not, girlfriend/boyfriend. We hadn't done anything romantic, well not really in my eyes. We slept in the same bed, snuggled on the couch, stared at each other in the eyes while we were talking until we noticed we weren't talking and just staring at each other... . Okay, we were romantic the whole time. My wings were back and fully functional, but my horn is up to me to grow back, with magic. I'm not sure how I'm going to use a very small amount of magic when an enormous amount of magic was vital. But that's the past, the boring stuff. We can go back to that when it's over. All of it. Because today was the last day, it was time for the adventure to continue. I said to Twilight one last time before bed that day, "What are we going to do in the morning?" "Save the world of course!"

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**END OF PART 1**

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**Yeah, this story needs more romance, but just a little. I say Twilight and Flare should get a little closer. TheBlindRat's story kind of close. By the way, you guys should check his story out. This chapter is a little shorter than recent ones, but I think this one is a turning point. Consider all of the story until now Part 1. Part 2/Chapter 8 will be out shortly, don't be worrying about that.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 2**  
**Chapter 8: Meeting Accomplices**

The week was over, and I trusted Matilda's judgment. I got up on the final day, wondering how frantic life was about to turn. Twilight lay peacefully in bed, so I took that as a good sign that things would always be okay while she's around. I got up and went to check on my armory.

As I went down stairs I wondered what is was like the last time I'd been home. I was by myself, working my garden and forging whatever I could with all the ores in the mountain.

I found myself outside, only remembering myself heading down the stairs. I walked around my house and looked deep in my forge. It was burning brightly. This was so because of two reasons first, it was electric heating as well as coal, and second, my forge never once went out when I didn't have electrical heating, it was raining, and there had been a stream going right inside. I took my well used trail towards the mountain side, to the right of my house. I had been hallowing out the side for a very long time. I had gotten over a thousand pounds of iron, and some other materials.

Next, I headed away from my house, down my trail to my garden. It was fenced in and was cut off from the animals who liked to snack on it. I grabbed the bucket I used to water my garden. I used the hot spring water and it worked specially on the plants. They grew healthier and bigger than they were normally supposed to. They also tasted fresher and stayed that way longer. I left my plants and went to my armory.

I jumped into my forge, which was bigger than most, especially on the inside. I used my small amount of magic to levitate the burning debris as I open the trapdoor and stepped inside. My flames lit up the walls, stones smelted together to make sure the dirt didn't come caving in. The floor was nothing special, dirt packed down from tons of use. This tunnel led straight for around fifty meters of darkness, unless you had flames like mine. Once I made it to the end, I looked around. The square room looked just as I remember: stone walls, dirt floor, weapons and armor piled everywhere. Some of it had even been enchanted. I found it hard enchanting, but most of the tools I've enchanted were compasses, maps and the likes, not really weapons or armor. I grabbed an enchanted pack and through it over my shoulders. I enchanted it so it could carry almost an endless amount of things without having the bag gain any more weight than it's own. It carried anything that could fit inside without bulging in the least. I thought it was pretty convenient, but when I made it a was out cold for two days. I also grabbed a small scabbard with a large combat knife. For some reason this knife was important to me, it had just always been there. The blade was a foot long, and made of titanium. The blacksmith who made this could only be the master of masters. The handle was carved, the details of the small flames more accurate than seemingly possible, as if the only way they could be more real would be if they were dancing. It wasn't bloody and didn't have a scratch on it, so I figured it had never been used. I kept searching for stuff to bring.

Finding nothing more than weapons and armor that I had created, I went back down my tunnel, and up the hatch. I went back up to my room to see Twilight starting to wake. She had a tendency to roll over on her back before waking (not to mention hitting me in the face). I crept downstairs to start making breakfast. I threw the ingredients together, and put them on a pan on the stove, and waited. Two minutes later Twilight came down the stairs with a hoof rubbing her eyes, "I ... I smell...," she put her hoof down and stared in shock at my creation, "PANCAKES!" She rushed over to me and hugged me so tightly I felt a couple of my muscles would pop. "Ohboyohboyohboy!" She picked up a plate and summoned the pancake onto it. Jumping to the table she dumped syrup and a little butter on it. Then she ate like a maniac - no chewing or cutting up, just swallowing. I watched her in fascination having never seen a pony eat like that before. When she was done she looked up at me and giggled, "Oops, sorry..." She rushed off to the bathroom to wipe her face. I smiled to myself as I sat down to eat my own pancake.

A few minutes later Twilight came down saying she was sorry. "It's all right," I told her, "I thought it was kind of cute. Besides the licking plate." She turned bright red, "Still, I've been a rude guest. I need to make up for it." "Oh yeah?" "Yeah." She pulled me over to the couch, and told me to stay. I sat down and watched her bring my stereo over and placed it on the end table next to the couch. She pressed on and put in a cd that was in her pack. Soft music started playing and she got on the couch next to me. She cuddled under my arm, and rested her head on my shoulder. I let my arm fall down on her and I felt unimaginable happiness. I had never felt love for anything. Now, I felt it for somepony, not only that but somepony who would love me back. We just sat there, figuring if Matilda wanted us gone today then she would come make it happen. We were right.

Not too long after, Matilda came rolling towards my house. I invited her inside and we all sat at the table. "What are we supposed to do?" I asked.  
"You are supposed to figure out why Celestia has done was she has," was Matilda's response.  
"I mean how do we do this?"  
"You must enter Canterlot through the sewers, then sneak around to the castle. You must enter the castle secretly and corner the Princess. Then you must figure out what you need to know and leave."  
"What about Luna?" Twilight asked.  
"I don't know, she may be good or evil. I'll hope for the best. It is time you go now, to prevent any further delay. I know you two enjoy staying here together, and if you stay here too long you will not want to ever leave."  
I looked at Twilight. Matilda was right, I did want to stay here with Twilight and just lazily be with her. I also didn't want anypony like her to get hurt so I decided then and there. "We will go now. I am packed and ready to leave," I said. Then I turned to Twilight, "Are you ready?" "I'm always ready to follow you," she said, filling me with warmth.

We started coming up with our plan on the way. First, we needed to head to Ponyville and apologize to Twilight's friends. Then we needed to get supplies. As far as we knew we were supposed to raid Canterlot and arrest Celestia, and that alone was an impossible task, unless we were physco changelings bent on taking over the world.

I went straight to my garden and harvested all my plants that were ready. Throwing them in my pack, Twilight and I headed out. Nora waved at us as we left. We were walking down the mountain when Twilight suddenly stopped. I turned, and she wasn't looking at me. She was looking past me, at I was hoping an distinct spot in space. My hopes were crushed when I turned to see that there were two guards coming up the path towards us. I nodded my head towards them and Twilight followed me down to them.

Once they were about twenty meters away they noticed us. They stopped, shocked. We kept walking towards them. The elder one, maybe a veteran, asked me, "Flare? Black Flare Smith?" I looked at Twilight, then back at him, "Yes, and you are?" "I'm... my name is... Cole Black. I... you don't remember me?" "No, I'm sorry. I've never met any royal guards to begin with, so..." "What in Equestria could you mean?" "Could you be mistaking me with my father?" "Your father? Wait, how old are you?" "I'm 19. Why?" The old stallion seemed to be calculating the possibilities of something, "Yes... I suppose that makes sense... if... . Flare, are you named after your father?" "I believe so, yes. You see, he was murdered at my birth." "Oh, yes that makes sense... I'll have you know, your father was my best friend! Yes, he led me and my team through many harsh battles. My coat used to be white, but after the battles that we went through it changed as dark as yours. I was luckily spared from execution because I had fled for five years, and when I was found they didn't recognize me. For some reason they were looking for your father's team, to kill them. So anyway, here I am, serving the Princess like nothing ever happened." "We need to talk."  
They started walking with us, the younger one still silent. "So," I asked, "What brings you down here?" "Princess Celestia informed the whole royal guard that there was a threat up in these mountains, so we've come to stop it," the veteran said cheerfully. " I looked at Twilight, with a 'I wonder what he's talking about' face. She returned it. "Okay. There is something you need to know, Celestia killed my father." He let this sink in. "Oh, I... um, I'm sorry to hear that. Wait, what? The Princess killed him? Why would she do that? It would explain why she wanted his team dead... . So where might you be going?" I looked at Twilight, who was waiting for the answer too. "I can't say just yet, I don't know if I can trust you." "Oh yes, well I may be the only other pony who can tell you where your father's secret armory is." "That would earn my trust, yes." He leaned right over into my ear and spoke very softly, "Under his forge, it is. But it's impossible for me to get there, as I'm sure you know why." He leaned back and winked at me. "okay, I now trust you, but not him." The pony accompanying Cole was eyeing me dangerously, as if he might strike. "Okay, I will tell you some truth. The threat, as your buddy there has clearly figured out, would be us." "I understand, if Celestia really killed your father, you would be a threat to her, even if we don't know the reason. You don't know the reason right?" "No, I don't. It doesn't make sense to me why Celestia would kill my father. So Twilight," I said motioning to Twilight, "and I are going to figure it out." "So, don't mind my absent mindedness, but are you two married?" We blushed, deeply. "No, we are not married. We are just going together to figure out a problem that isn't quite mutual, however both out of vengeance." "I can see Celestia has it coming for her. I will head back to Canterlot, telling her that there had indeed been a threat, and that we had dealt with it. I'll tell her that the threat was... um, a mugger, um, planning on attacking a special delivery to Ponyville, yes. Then I will help you with whatever you need, if it be what's going on in Canterlot, where the Princess will be heading. I'll be your inside guy! I suppose your father didn't have any time to teach you his ..., wait, you don't have a horn. Never mind only unicorns can do it." "I used to have a horn, but it burned off. Don't point out that I'm fireproof, I already know. It burned off before I was fireproof." "Ouch. Uhh, yeah, okay can you perform magic, then?" "See this bag?" I said showing them my pack, "The biggest piece of magic I've ever performed was on this bag. To make it hold endless stuff." "That's quite the piece of work, that is. Mighty handy." "Only thing is it put me out cold for two days afterwords." "So do you think you could perform a spell that's considerably easier than that?" "Yeah, I hope so." "Okay, when I use it on you, your mind should put together how to use it on your own. Are you ready?" "I'm ready." "Here goes nothin'" His horn lit up and I heard his voice in my mind, "Can ya hear me young fella?" He was right, my mind was putting the pieces of a puzzle together to figure out the spell. "I... I can..., hear you," I mentally sent back, the effort not all that easy. I opened my eyes to see Twilight staring at me, concern written on her face. "it's okay, everything's okay." I felt good, having performed magic with out hurting myself in any way. "Very good," he told me, "Your first try was a success."

We walked on, chatting. Twilight had joined in, and she asked if he could teach her too. He said it was up to me to teach her, and that it was a secret to be passed on to certain ponies. I had decided that in the morning I would try to teach her. We finally stopped walking when it the sun wasn't visible on the horizon. We found a nice spot to stay and sleep the night. I pulled out a blanket from my pack, the same blanket Twilight and I had been using the whole time. We had left her pack at my house though. We all layed down, and Twilight was asleep in no time. I was restless though.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would. Cole's companion quietly got up. He was out of my vision, and I could scarcely see him through my peripherals. He was debating whether or not to do something. It became clear he had decided what he was intending to do, because I heard a sword slide out of a scabbard, then hoof steps towards me. I rolled over, away from Twilight and stood up quickly. "What are you doing?" I asked calmly. He was surprised, and he was losing his confidence. He still lunged at me though. I stepped to the side, feeling a battle strategy forming in my mind, instincts telling me where to move and what to do. He swung, I ducked, then brought my hoof up into his jaw. His sword cluttered out of his hoof and onto some rocks, and he looked at me with a hoof on his jaw. I casually walked over to my pack and pulled out my knife, wondering what in Equestria could I possibly be doing. My instincts were leading me stronger than my will. Although he didn't make any noise, I sensed he was getting his sword. My hoof found my knife and I pulled it out, letting the scabbard fall to the ground. Cole had stirred when the sword had fallen, but was now still again, breathing peacefully. "Cole!" I yelled. Instincts telling me that if there were no witnesses, they might think that I had attacked him. Cole woke, just as his companion's sword came hurtling towards me. I turned, swinging my arm around and parrying the sword out of the air. I struck the ground, burying itself a foot in before stopping. I reared back and kicked the side of the blade, bending it ninety degrees, preventing any further use of it. When I turned around he had gone, disappeared. My first thought was that he had sprinted away, but my instincts told me that he was hiding. "What... what's going on?" Cole asked, his voice shaking. "Your buddy attempted to kill me, and now he's run away. I woke you so you wouldn't think I was trying to murder him," was my response. He wasn't too far away, hiding and shaking behind a big rock. I hauled him over to our spot, and set him on the ground. He was in the fetus position, the trauma of what he had committed or tried to commit, had affected him big-time. I layed back down, knowing full well that he wasn't going to try anything more.

The morning came fast, even though I didn't sleep. Twilight woke early, saying she had had the most restful sleep ever. Cole's companion was sleeping right where I had put him down, wrapped in a ball with his legs up to his chest. "What's wrong with him?" she had asked. I told her the story, and she was shocked. She didn't comment on it, and I told her that I trusted him not to do anything else. As I was finishing he was waking, so I added a little part on top of what I was saying, to let it sink in to him, "He wouldn't want to kill me now, as the trauma inside him would surely kill him." He shuddered at that and I knew I was right. It wouldn't really kill him but it would make him not be able to live with himself, and he would probably end up killing himself. "Cole, I trust your nameless companion, so I think you can take him back, because I'm sure he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. He will not utter my name, describe me, or even acknowledge my existence. I trust him completely, so I don't feel he is a threat to me anymore. Twilight and I will be heading over soon, I hope. Good luck to you," I said. Cole nodded, "It's been an honor meeting you, Flare. I believe you will be as great as your father, or better, and I'd be willing to bet he's watching you right now." I packed up, and we went our separate ways, Cole and his buddy heading back around the mountain to Canterlot, and Twilight and I heading towards the Everfree Forest.

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**(The main six ponies in MLP are aged between 17-20 years old. Twilight Sparkle has been a determined age of 18 years old.)**  
**(Cole Black is a real man, a veteran, who served in the Vietnam War, from 1961-1975. He was the Captain of the Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron. Just thought I'd let you guys know.)**

* * *

**Ok guys, being you. Yes, I'm talking to you here. I am in need of some suggestions for a conflict in Ponyville. I wouldn't want you to get bored reading about how Twilight just goes to Ponyville and meets her buddies. I need bad stuff to happen! So if you've got any good ideas that you wouldn't mind sharing I've got a couple of ears that wouldn't mind hearing. Yeah, I know that was lame. Whatever. Thanks for reading, thanks for sharing, see you around chapter 9.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry for taking so long bros. I was procrastinating. :3**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Delays**

I never would have thought that there was a hole in my pack. I also never would have expected that a pouch that had an endless expanse from the inside, could possibly let ALL of the food slip out. Not only that but even after backtracking to where we slept the night before we didn't find a single crumb. Twilight had pointed out when we were searching the trail that there had been an awful amount of animals following us, so we could have been robbed by them. Either way, we had no food, and I didn't think we could make it through the forest in time, because heading through it to Ponyville never had a single straight path. The road is completely circling the forest, so it's easy to make it through the road, but heading back could be a difficult path.

"We don't want to waste any time heading back, or do we?" I said to Twilight. "I don't think heading back is an option," Twilight replied as she worked her magic to fix my pack, "Why don't you fly over the trees and search for some food?" "Fly? Oh wait, yeah, fly. I don't think that's a good idea. First, I could be seen, and I've been recognized by the first two ponies I've met. Second, I've never flown before, and I think practice would be necessary first. Third, the trees are too thick. I wouldn't even be able to see through them from above." Twilight seemed to consider this, "I'm not sure what we're going to do then... besides look around for some food."

As a matter of fact the bushes and trees around had many fruits and vegetables, seemingly bursting with the overgrown berries and such. I was picking through a particularly large section of berries when I heard Twilight scream. I whipped around and found her laying on the ground. I also saw the rear end of a pony sprinting away into the forest. Her back legs were two different colors, black and white. Not only that but they were striped. Her hooves were black. I realized exactly what we were up against when I saw the little pouch most commonly used as a medicine bag. A ran to Twilight, who was running, except laying on her side. I stepped closer but one of her hooves struck my ankle and I crashed to the ground. In whatever state Twilight was in she seemed to think she had tripped and started to stand up. I managed to get up and tackle her to the ground. Her struggling was intense, but since her main strength was in her horn she couldn't do much. Her struggling slowed to a stop, and she started slightly shivering. She opened her eyes and turned to face me, "Uh, Flare?" I responded, "Yes?" "What'cha doing?" I was shocked. She seemed to have no recollection of what had just overcome her. I pointed at the medicine bag while slowly loosening my grip, afraid that she would go physco again. She leaned over and sniffed the bag, then yanked her head back and gasped, "Where did you get that?" "Get that? A zebra ran up and did something to you, then ran away while you were freaking out in your sleep!" "What, that's ridiculous! I would remember something like that. Not only that, but I know the only zebra who lives in Equestria." "What is the last thing you remember?" "I was uhhh, picking berries, then, um..., yeah, I think I heard you behind me and you hugged me," She seemed happy, or at least anything but worried, that she had basically been attacked. "That's it? No zebra attack, no falling to the ground and trying to run away, no kicking Flare in the ankle and knocking him to the ground?" She looked at me as if I had eaten a very sour berry. "Flare, nothing happened while you were picking berries, I was doing the same." "No! You were under attack... . What is that stuff anyway," I said pointing to the pouch, "If you know it will probably explain what happened." She looked back at the pouch and examined it for a couple seconds. "It's a memory medicine," she stated bluntly, "I was making some..., wait no, it's a memory poison. I guess I mixed up my ingredients." She looked at my confused expression and continued, "I don't quite remember everything, or I think I don't remember it all. I'm trying to make sure. I just mixed up the ingredients, that's all." "No! I saw somepony, some zebra, do something to you, I-" "Flare! I will not hear any more about this! I would remember something like this. I..., let's go." She threw the rest of her berries into a bag, and packed her medicine in my pack without speaking. Then she turned her back on me and started slowly walking towards the forest. I packed the berries I had dropped and rushed after her.

I caught up quick, and wanted to break the barrier that had come up between us but I couldn't. Everything that came to my head sounded lame, and I didn't end up saying anything. I can't pretend I know how a girl's brain works, but I'm sure telling her she was right would make her feel better. However, telling her she was right would be lying, so I said the only thing that couldn't possibly cause any harm. "Are you hungry?" I didn't know if she was or not, and I didn't know if she would be stubborn or not. She sighed, "Yes..., and Flare," she looked up at me with big, sad eyes, "I'm sorry Flare..., I don't know why I argued with you, I..., I should have known with all the weird things going on that something like that would happen to me." I couldn't believe it. I thought girls would want to right, or assume that they were so and be stubborn about it. I was wrong... or maybe all girls except... my girl. I smiled at the thought. "So what did happen to me?" Her question broke through my thoughts. "Well, you were laying on your side trying to run, like laying down running..., it was weird. Then I grabbed you and you started to calm down. Then you woke up all confused." She pondered that for a second, "I was running?" "Yeah, all out." "Was I..., running away from something, or running after something? Do you think?" "I don't... um..., away. It..., it seemed like you were running away." She nodded, then turned away from me. "Is anything wrong?" I asked, walking up to her. She shook her head, "No matter where we go, if we hid or ran away, they would always find us and we could never be happy." She said that last part looking up at me, tears slowly sliding down her face. I approached and wiped the tears away, "I'll always be happy, as long as you're there." She smiled and hugged me.

"Now," I said, after we had stopped hugging, "You need a nap." I felt the muscles in her back seem to try to un-tense, but it didn't work. I could tell she felt tired after that run, even if she didn't remember it. We found a nice sunny spot, odd in the forest, and rested there. Judging by the sun it was around 12:00. "Wake me in an hour, promise?" she asked. "Mmm maybe." She rolled her eyes and layed down. A couple seconds later I felt a hard pull from my right and I fell next to Twilight. I wrapped my arm around her and she cuddled in next to me. I rested my head on the side of her shoulder.

While Twilight slept I practiced my magic. I started by lifting berries out of my pack. They weren't hard for me. It only took me three tries to lift one into the air and whirl it around. Next I tried a group of berries. I harnessed all my power and levitated them in the air. I made them into a circle and flew other berries through it. Then I took a deep breath. I concentrated my power, loosening my grip on reality as I let it consume my thoughts. I opened my eyes to see my pack flying three feet in the air. I moved it around in the air, focusing on my horn. The longer I held it the easier it seemed to become. Then I remembered, I could do it easily, but when I stopped I crashed. With this fear in my head I immediately stopped my magic. My pack fell to the ground and I was struck by a migraine. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them Twilight was glaring at me, "So much for an hour." "I... I really don't have an excuse." She looked surprised, then smiled, "You are definitely the most honest and courteous pony I have ever met." I smiled, "Yeah, I know." She pushed me laughing, "Maybe not." I laughed with her.

We packed up, eating berries as we worked. "Do..., do you think you could find where this 'Zecora' lives?" I asked Twilight, searching my brain for a possible way to make the big puzzle not so big. "Yeah, she lives in the- this forest. Somewhere in the..., middle? I'm not really sure but she lives somewhere in here." "Do you think that it's possible to find her house or shack, or, whatever she lives in by wandering around?" "Yeah I guess so. By wandering around. It took me a long time to get there when I meant to go there." I pondered this for a minute. I focused on walking and what Twilight was saying. "...this book about advanced spells. It taught me all this cool spells. Do you think you would want to read it?" "Hm? Yeah, sounds nice. Do you have it with you?" "Yes, right here." "Actually I think I might just practice levitating it in front of me." She pulled it out of my pack and held in in front of me for me to practice on. I grunted as I put on my game face and my horn lit up with all the power I could muster. I opened my eyes, having the discomfort of exerting myself gone. I read the cover out loud, "Advanced Unknown Magic." I saw Twilight nod through my periphrials. I read it aloud, as I learned faster that way.

It only took half an hour to read through the whole book. The pictures were illustrated to help the reader along, and the words were big and underlined where there were extremely important details. I whipped through the spells memorizing them as I went. I didn't normally read but I guess I wasn't too shabby at it. I knew I would be able to perform the spells however it would heavily drain me. "Well, what do you think?" Twilight asked. "Well, I'm not sure. These are very dark spells. Some are cool, like walking through walls, or heat vision, or even breathe underwater. But lasers missiles, imprisonment? Those are meant for one clear purpose." She only nodded.

I put the book back in my pack, forgetting my weak magic. I crashed to the ground. "Stay conscious don't faint! I. MUST. NOT. FAINT!" The effort felt like it was killing me but I kept my mind focused, slowly fading into blackness. "Search for something to think about. Come on, come on." I tried thinking of my parents, and I felt myself still slipping, but slower now. I looked into what made me happy, the happiest I had ever felt. Twilight's face popped into my mind, and I stopped feeling faint. My mind going back into it's original state. "Flare! Flare, what's wrong?" Her voice was filling me with a little warmth, more than the heat of my flames. I felt the darkness leaving me and the headache faded completely. I stood slowly. "Twilight..." I stopped, not knowing why I even spoke, and blushed. "Are you all right? You scared the crap outta me." "I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you that after I perform magic I normally faint." "Well why didn't you faint this time?" "You sound disappointed." She made a fake scowl. "Well... when I was about to faint..." "Yes?" "I was thinking about whatever I could to keep myself awake..." "Annnnnnnnnnd?" "Well, that thing was you." I said that last part really fast and she didn't hear me. "What? You said that too fast." I sighed. "I was thinking of you, to keep me from fainting." She blushed, "Aww. Really? You mean it, Flare?" "Of course," I said blushing. I felt relieved that nothing had gone wrong, even though I can't imagine anything going wrong at a moment like that. I sat down, not taking my eyes off her. She sat with me, resting her head on my shoulder. We sat like that for ten minutes. Each second slowly moving into minutes for me. But we were distracted by rustling leaves from behind us.

"Hello?" I asked. A dark silhouette of a head appeared over some bushes from which the noise had come from. "Who is there, tell me and there will be no despair," was the response. The voice was definitely female, and deeper than most. Twilight looked up hearing the voice. "Zecora?" "Twilight, is that you? And who might be there too?" The voice was almost creepy, and when it's owner came out of the bushes I had some of my suspicion confirmed. "Flare. Flare is with me. I, uh, met him traveling. Um, we'd like to talk to you." The zebra, or Zecora, had come within my fiery light, revealing her features. She was your typical zebra, nothing much special about her. She had gold rings around her neck, which was common among where she probably used to live. She had big gold earrings and rings around her front right leg. Her eyes were a deep sea green. Her cutie mark was a sun, however, like all zebras it was gray and colorless. She looked down to the ground and spoke as if she had done something wrong, which she had, "I'm sorry Twilight, what I did caused you fright. I had sensed that you were coming back, but felt something out of whack. I had to give to you, the medicine of renew! I heard your memory was not clear, so I fixed that and ran in fear. The fear of renewing your mind, could leave you in a difficult bind. If you were woken up during then, your brain could stop functioning again." "Again?" Zecora nodded. "Come with me, and you shall see." Twilight started after her and I followed suite.

We arrived at Zecora's house as it was really getting dark. She walked over to her cauldron, threw some ingredients in and it flared up with multicolored clouds of smoke. I figured Zecora would try to explain what we were seeing, but she stood silently watching the smoke billow up. I turned my attention to it too. It showed Zecora running up and forcing something down Twilight's throat, then turned and sprinted away. Then the images dissolved into something else. They showed a mare and a stallion, though just the outlines. I could tell the stallion was me, because there aren't too many ponies whose mane is constantly active. I assumed the mare was Twilight, as I never leave her side - for too long. In the smoke it showed some other ponies come up behind us, and Twilight was grabbed. Then something popped up between me and my attackers, and I hit it like a solid wall. I attempted to use magic to get through, but my magic faltered, and they escaped.

The smoke billowed to a stop and quickly dissipated I closed my mouth before anypony noticed me gaping. Zecora nodded her head, "This is why you are here, to see this so you know to fear. The path you choose to walk, will lead you to a block. After that block will come another, and no mater how hard you try the blocks will come forever!" I stared at Zecora, then looked to Twilight. She spoke first, "We know the trials we will face and we will continue down this path. We have a responsibility, and we must be held to it." Zecora only nodded. "Now," said Twilight, "Might you have any food that we could take with us on our trip?" Zecora nodded again, "Right this way, my dear, with this food you will banish your fear."

We thanked Zecora for the meal, and we were getting ready to leave when Zecora beckoned us back inside and demanded we stay the night. We agreed.

Once back inside, Twilight raided Zecora's bookshelves, while I spoke with Zecora about magic. We talked late into the night, which worked out fine because I really didn't need any sleep and Zecora was partially nocturnal. I wanted to know more about what would happen when Twilight was getting abducted by didn't have an answer, only that that was the unchangeable future. I asked her to teach me about magic, and she told me some secrets that were only passed down through zebras, however since zebra's were hornless the tricks were useless to her. So she taught me to the best of her ability. Her teachings weren't spells though, they were advice, like when to use and not use magic, and how to focus more deeply on the hidden talent inside of all unicorns. Eventually she got enough nerve to ask why I was so interested in magic, seeing as I wasn't a unicorn and all. I was surprised by the question, as I had been expecting one like, 'why is my mane on fire'. Then I realized that she had not seen the burnt marks on my forehead, so I answered her, "I am a unicorn, however my horn was burnt off as a baby colt." She nodded, and went to go rest in her bed. I quietly snuck up to Twilight, who was apparently half awake, as she moved over a bit in the small bed, and raised a hoof for me to get in beside her. Blushing to myself, I did as she wanted, and she cuddled up next to me. I felt her breathing even out, like she does when she sleeps. I thought about everything Zecora had told me, and everything I had seen in the smoke.

* * *

**Yeah. So. Anyway.**

**Your Fellow Brony - Abridged**


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